News of the Cyber World

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Brazil VS X

Tim Walz’s Attorney General, Keith Ellison, Celebrates Brazil Banning Elon Musk’s X

Keith Ellison, attorney general for Minnesota – the state where Kamala Harris VP pick Tim Walz serves as governor – on Monday celebrated Brazil’s supreme court banning Elon Musk’s X from the country.

In a post on X for Labor Day, Keith Ellison said in response to the ban, “Obrigado Brasil!” – “Thanks, Brazil!”
His post prompted severe online reactions.

“Tim Walz’s attorney general in Minnesota — Keith Ellison — thanks Brasil for crushing free speech platform X,” said The Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemmingway.

As Breitbart News reported, Brazil blocked “Elon Musk’s X social media platform after the SpaceX and Tesla CEO refused to comply with the nation’s demands to blacklist certain accounts.

Musk claimed on his platform that the country also froze the assets of Starlink, his satellite internet company.

“Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the country’s telecom agency to block access to X across Brazil, adding that anyone caught trying to access the social media platform could be fined nearly $9,000 per day, according to a report by the New York Times,” it added. “The move reportedly came after Musk closed his X office in Brazil after Moraes threatened to make arrests over ignoring his demands to remove X accounts that he said broke Brazilian laws.”

Elon Musk: Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ‘Deserves Prison for His Crimes’

Elon Musk has escalated his attacks against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, calling for his arrest after the country’s high court upheld a ban on the X social media platform.

Fox Business reports that in a scathing rebuke, tech billionaire Elon Musk took to his X platform on Monday to demand the imprisonment of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The statement came in response to the country’s high court upholding a temporary ban on the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

“De Moraes deserves prison for his crimes,” Musk wrote on X, intensifying the ongoing feud between the billionaire and the Brazilian justice system. The ban was initially imposed over the weekend after Musk failed to meet a deadline to appoint a legal representative in Brazil. The case stems from the country’s demand that certain accounts implicated in probes of alleged digital militias, accused of spreading misinformation and hate, be suspended.

Despite Musk’s protests, a court panel unanimously voted to maintain the ruling on Monday. This is not the first time the tech mogul has publicly criticized de Moraes. In a series of posts on X, Musk accused the justice of violating his oath of office, calling him a “criminal” and a “dictator.” He even went as far as dubbing de Moraes “de Voldemort,” a reference to the villainous character from the Harry Potter series.

The court’s decision has not only affected X but also Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet provider, which is 40% owned by the billionaire. The court has frozen Starlink’s financial accounts in Brazil as part of the ongoing dispute. X has alleged that de Moraes is demanding the platform appoint a legal representative in the country so that authorities have someone to arrest, further escalating tensions between the company and the Brazilian government.

The ban has left tens of millions of X users in Brazil struggling to find alternative social platforms to stay connected with the world. The situation has drawn attention to the delicate balance between free speech, regulation, and the power of tech giants in shaping public discourse.

Elon Musk’s Starlink to Block X in Brazil Following Supreme Court Order

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service has announced it will comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order to block access to Musk’s social media platform X in Brazil.

The Hill reports that Starlink, the satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has declared its intention to block access to Musk’s own social media platform, X, in Brazil. This decision comes in response to a recent order from Brazil’s Supreme Court, which mandated the suspension of X throughout the country due to an ongoing feud between Musk and Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes.

The conflict between Musk and de Moraes has been escalating for months, with tensions reaching a boiling point earlier this month when X closed its office in Brazil after the judge ordered the platform to remove certain posts. Failure to comply with the order would have resulted in a daily fine of $3,650 and an arrest decree against X’s representative in the country, Rachel Nova Conceicao.

Last week, de Moraes threatened to shut down X entirely in Brazil, prompting a strong reaction from Musk, who called the judge an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.” In response, de Moraes ordered the immediate suspension of X, directing internet service providers and app stores to block the platform within five days. The order also imposed daily fines of nearly $9,000 for those who use virtual private networks (VPNs) or other methods to access X.

Starlink, caught in the middle of this dispute, initially sought to fight what it called the “illegality” of the order to freeze its financial transactions. However, faced with the threat of sanctions from Brazil’s telecommunications regulator Anatel, the company ultimately decided to comply with the court’s ruling.

In a statement on X, Starlink wrote, “Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing of our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil. We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre’s recent orders violate the Brazilian constitution.”

X VS California

Elon Musk’s X Wins Appeal Against California’s Social Media Content Moderation Law

In a significant victory for Elon Musk’s social media platform X, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has partially blocked a California law that mandates social media companies to disclose their policies for addressing disinformation, harassment, hate speech, and extremism.

Reuters reports that the decision, which overturns a lower court judge’s ruling that had declined to pause the enforcement of the new California law, marks a crucial development in the ongoing debate over the extent of states’ authority to regulate social media companies. The law in question requires large social media platforms to publicly report their content moderation practices and provide data on the number of objectionable posts and how they were handled.

Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter last year and recently rebranded it as X, had filed a lawsuit to prevent the law from taking effect, arguing that it infringed upon the First Amendment’s speech protections. The case is one among several legal challenges that have emerged as states attempt to exert greater control over social media giants.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court directed lower courts to reevaluate whether content moderation laws in Texas and Florida raised First Amendment concerns, setting the stage for further legal battles. In X’s case, U.S. District Judge William Shubb in Sacramento had initially refused to block the California law in December, finding that it was not “unjustified or unduly burdensome within the context of First Amendment law.”

However, the appeals court disagreed with this assessment, holding that the law’s requirements were “more extensive than necessary” to justify the state’s goal of compelling social media companies to be transparent about their moderation policies and practices. The panel instructed the lower court to review whether the content moderation portion of the law can be severed from other provisions.

Palpatine's Apprentice Blair on Social Media

Tony Blair Calls for Global Agreement on Social Media Speech Restrictions

Fresh off the crackdown on so-called “keyboard warriors” over social media posts connected to the recent anti-mass migration riots, leading leftist politicians in Britain are beginning to demand for new speech restrictions on the internet.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose neo-liberal Labour Party government enacted some of the strictest speech laws in modern British history, has joined the chorus of commentators demanding a new crackdown on social media.

Speaking to LBC Radio this week, Blair said: “The world is going to have to come together and agree on some rules around social media platforms.

“It’s not just how people can provoke hostility and hatred but I think… the impact on young people particularly when they’ve got access to mobile phones very young and they are reading a whole lot of stuff and receiving a whole lot of stuff that I think is really messing with their minds in a big way.

“I’m not sure what the answer is but I’m sure we need to find one.”

Blair was not alone in calling for new restrictions on social media. Earlier this week, the left-wing Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle also said that the government should consider new limits against online speech.

“Misinformation is dangerous,” Hoyle said. “Social media is good but its also bad when people are using it in a way that could cause a riot, threat, intimidation, suggesting that we should attack somebody, it’s not acceptable.

“What we’ve got to do is factually correct what’s up there, if not I think the government has to think long and hard about what they are going to do about social media and what are they going to put through parliament as a bill.

Telegram CEO on His Arrest

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Criticizes ‘Misguided’ Arrest in France

Pavel Durov, the CEO of popular messaging app Telegram, has publicly addressed his recent arrest in Paris, calling the French authorities’ approach “misguided” and expressing surprise at being held personally responsible for illegal activities on his platform.

Novaya Gazeta Europe reports that in his first public statement since being detained on August 24, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has hit out at the French authorities’ “misguided approach” in arresting him on charges related to the management of the popular messaging app. Durov was indicted on 12 offenses, including administering a platform that permits illicit financial transactions, failure to provide information to authorities, complicity in the distribution of child pornography, drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering.

Writing on his personal Telegram channel, Durov expressed his surprise at learning he could be held responsible for the illegal activities of others on the platform. He argued that the established practice when a country is unhappy with an internet service is to initiate legal action against the service itself, not the CEO. “Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” Durov stated.

The Telegram CEO warned that holding innovators personally responsible for potential abuse of their tools would discourage the development of new technologies. He emphasized that while Telegram had experienced “growing pains” due to a rapid increase in users, now totaling 950 million, the app was not an “anarchic paradise.” Durov highlighted the efforts of Telegram moderators, who take down “millions” of harmful posts and channels every day.

Durov also pointed out that French authorities had numerous ways to reach him to address concerns about the app and that Telegram had an official EU representative to handle law enforcement requests. Despite this, he pledged to make it his “personal goal” to prevent illegal activity on the platform.

Following his arrest at Paris’ Le Bourget Airport in late August, Durov was charged and later freed after posting a €5-million bail bond. He is currently prohibited from leaving France as the case progresses.

The Best Spy Ever is Your Cellphone

Leak from Advertising Giant Suggests Your Phone Really Is Spying on You

In a new report that confirms many people’s worst suspicions, a leaked marketing pitch deck suggests major tech companies are using AI software to eavesdrop on users’ conversations through their devices.

The Daily Mail reports that a leaked pitch deck from marketing firm Cox Media Group (CMG) details how the company’s ‘Active-Listening’ software uses AI to collect and analyze “real-time intent data” from consumers by listening to their conversations via microphones on phones, laptops, and home assistants. The deck touts Facebook, Google, and Amazon as clients of CMG, implying these tech giants could be deploying the Active-Listening service to target users with ads based on what they say in private.

The leak, first reported by 404 Media, opens a window into a practice that tech companies have long denied — using device microphones to gather data on users for advertising purposes. CMG’s Active-Listening software is said to be able to pair voice data with users’ online behavioral data to identify “in-market consumers” who are actively considering purchase decisions. For example, the software could determine from a private conversation that a user is thinking about buying a car, and then serve them targeted ads for vehicles.

The pitch deck outlines a detailed six-step process that the Active-Listening AI uses to extract intent data from overheard conversations on any device with a microphone. It remains unclear whether the software is always listening or only at specific triggered times, such as when making a call. But the system is apparently advanced enough to analyze gathered voice data, combine it with online activity tracking, and pinpoint high-value consumers on the verge of making a purchase.

In response to the revelations, Google quickly distanced itself from CMG, removing the company from its official marketing partners list. Meta and Amazon issued statements indicating they are investigating CMG for potential violations of data privacy policies. However, all three tech giants have previously denied using such listening software, despite rampant user suspicions.

The leak sheds light on CMG’s stunning claim that their “Active-Listening” tools are completely legal, with user consent buried in the fine print of dense terms of service agreements. CMG boasted in a now-deleted blog post that “when a new app download or update prompts consumers with a multi-page terms of use agreement somewhere in the fine print, Active Listening is often included.”

Your New Political Advisor Alexa

Election Interference: Amazon Claims Alexa Supporting Kamala Harris Was an ‘Error’

Amazon insists that its Alexa voice-enabled assistant does not have any political opinions — and that Alexa’s responses explaining why someone should vote for VP Kamala Harris while refusing to answer the same question about Donald Trump was a mistake. Amazingly, Amazon devices claimed one reason to vote for Harris is that she is a “strong candidate with a proven track record of accomplishment.”

Variety reports that on Tuesday, users on social media shared videos showing Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa providing disparate responses when asked “Why should I vote for Donald Trump?” versus “Why should I vote for Kamala Harris?” In response to the question about voting for Trump, Alexa stated, “I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate.” However, when asked about voting for Harris, Alexa in some cases provided a detailed list of reasons supporting the Democrat in the upcoming November presidential election. These reasons laughably included Harris being a “strong candidate with a proven track record of accomplishment.”

Fox News Digital compiled varying responses to the questions, noting that the replies depended on the specific model of Amazon device being used. In one widely shared video on X (formerly Twitter), Alexa responded to the question “Why should I vote for Kamala Harris?” by saying: “While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a strong candidate with a proven track record of accomplishment. As the first female vice president, Harris has already broken down a major gender barrier, and her career in politics has been characterized by a commitment to progressive ideals and a focus on helping disenfranchised communities.”

In another case reported by Fox News Digital, when asked about voting for Harris, Alexa stated, “While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a female of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequality throughout the country.”

In response to inquiries from Variety about the discrepancy in Alexa’s responses, an Amazon spokesperson clarified that this was an error that the company quickly rectified. The spokesperson emphasized that Amazon makes continual changes to enhance the systems it has in place for detecting and blocking content that violates its policies. The tech giant also stated that it has dedicated teams working to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.

Trump campaign officials were quick to respond, with campaign spokesman Steven Cheung sharing a post on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption “BIG TECH ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”

And what exactly did she accomplish? To let the borders wide open?

Astronauts Better Call Uber Instead of Boeing

Stranded by Boeing: Starliner Set to Return from Space Without Astronauts

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Friday evening and return to Earth without its crew. The astronauts the ill-fated capsule were supposed to carry home will now be stranded until a SpaceX rescue mission can be launched.

The New York Times reports that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft is set to leave the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday evening, leaving behind the two NASA astronauts it transported to the orbiting laboratory three months ago. The spacecraft is scheduled to undock and begin its journey back to Earth, with a planned parachute landing at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico approximately six hours later.

The decision to have the astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, remain on the ISS for an additional five months stems from the propulsion system issues that Starliner encountered during its approach to the station in June. Despite lengthy analysis and ground tests, NASA officials stated that they do not fully comprehend the cause of these problems. However, both Boeing and NASA have expressed confidence in Starliner’s ability to safely return to Earth without its crew, citing successful landings during previous uncrewed test flights.

To ensure the safety of the astronauts, NASA opted to have Williams and Wilmore return to Earth in February aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The astronauts have undergone training for an extended mission, including performing spacewalks and operating the robotic arm on the ISS.

For the return trip, Starliner will use a modified undocking procedure that involves short thruster pulses to quickly move away from the station, minimizing stress on the thrusters. The spacecraft will then position itself above the ISS before firing its larger thrusters to drop out of orbit and begin its descent. Although the larger thrusters have not experienced any issues thus far, the smaller thrusters, including those that malfunctioned during docking, serve as a backup for the deorbit maneuver.

The future of the Starliner program remains uncertain following this mission, which was intended to be the final step in NASA’s certification process for the spacecraft to begin regular crewed flights to the ISS. NASA may request that Boeing conduct another crewed flight test, similar to the company’s decision to redo an uncrewed flight test after experiencing technical difficulties during Starliner’s first launch in December 2019.

US Charges Russians with Cyberattack on Ukraine

U.S. Charges Russian Intelligence Officers with Cyberattack on Ukraine

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday unsealed an indictment of five Russian intelligence officers, plus one Russian civilian, for conducting the “WhisperGate” cyberattack on Ukrainian infrastructure in January 2022. The case is largely symbolic, but offers an interesting look at what the FBI described as “the first shot of the war.”

The unsealed indictment names five officers of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) as accomplices of a civilian hacker named Amin Timovich Stigal. A previous indictment in June named only Sitgal as perpetrator of the attack.

The GRU officers were part of a unit known as “Cadet Blizzard,” “Ember Bear,” and “Dev-0586.” The commander of the unit, Yuriy Denisov, was one of the men indicted on Thursday. The GRU team was tasked with using malware to attack critical infrastructure in Europe, Central America, and Asia.

Stigal, a native of Chechnya, either created or perfected an extremely destructive piece of malware known as “WhisperGate.”

The most remarkable feature of WhisperGate is that it “disguises” itself as a ransomware attack, in which data on the infected system would be encrypted and held hostage until the victims paid a ransom to unlock it. Stigal and the GRU team made some of the data they stole available for purchase on the Internet to maintain the illusion they were a routine gang of data thieves.

In reality, WhisperGate aggressively destroyed data beyond hope of recovery, including core operating software whose destruction would make devices, and entire systems, unusable.

According to DOJ, Stigal conspired with the GRU team to infect critical systems in Ukraine with WhisperGate and other destructive malware in January 2022 as a prelude to the Russian invasion, which was launched the following month.

The goals of the WhisperGate attack were to steal information from Ukrainian systems, cripple vital infrastructure, and sow terror among the Ukrainian population. Stigal and his GRU co-conspirators hacked Ukrainian websites to display messages such as, “Ukrainians! All information about you has become public, be afraid and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and future!”

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said on Thursday that the WhisperGate attack was “emblematic of Russia’s abhorrent disregard for innocent civilians as it wages its unjust invasion.”

Other U.S. officials noted that the Russian malware spread very quickly, without restraint or control from its GRU handlers, turning it into an electronic pandemic that infected systems far beyond Ukraine’s borders.

The Russians also deliberately attacked computer systems in the United States and Europe, including a federal government system in Maryland, as part of their battlespace preparation for the Ukraine invasion.

TikTokers Committing Check Fraud

TikTok Users Exploiting Chase Bank ‘Glitch’ Were Really Just Committing Check Fraud

A supposed “glitch” in Chase bank’s ATMs that allowed customers to withdraw large sums of money after depositing fake checks has led to a flurry of TikTok users posting videos online bragging about their ill-gotten gains. However, experts warn that this is not a harmless trick, but rather a clear case of check fraud that could result in serious legal consequences.

The Daily Mail reports that over the past few days, social media has been inundated with videos of people seemingly exploiting a flaw in Chase’s ATM system. By writing fraudulent checks for exorbitant amounts and then depositing them, some customers were able to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars that did not actually belong to them. On TikTok and other platforms, users referred to this as an “infinite money hack” and giddily showed off stacks of cash they had obtained.

One of the most prominent clips to emerge from this trend depicted a man walking out of a Chase branch in Yonkers, New York with his friends, all of them cheering as they fanned out wads of hundred dollar bills. Other videos showed long lines of people queuing up outside Chase locations, presumably hoping to take advantage of the supposed glitch before it was fixed.

However, financial experts caution that there is nothing clever or harmless about this activity. What may have seemed like a sneaky life hack is in fact a textbook example of check fraud. While the money initially appeared in customers’ accounts and could be withdrawn, any checks written without sufficient funds will inevitably bounce once they are fully processed by the bank.

“We are aware of this incident, and it has been addressed,” a Chase spokesperson told the Daily Mail. “Regardless of what you see online, depositing a fraudulent check and withdrawing the funds from your account is fraud, plain and simple.” The bank declined to provide further details on how some customers were able to circumvent standard security protocols.

It did not take long for Chase to crack down on the fraudulent activity. Many TikTok users who had gleefully posted about their gains soon shared sobering updates showing their accounts tens of thousands of dollars in the negative due to the fake checks being reversed. “They really told me to tap in, the next day it was supposed to clear, but look at my account,” one distressed man said while showing a balance nearly $40,000 overdrawn.

China Interfering in US Elections via TikTok?

Report: Chinese Communist Trolls Target U.S. Voters on TikTok Ahead of Election

Internet trolls backed by the Chinese Communist Party are reportedly posing as Americans on social media platforms including China’s TikTok and targeting U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The Beijing-backed trolls have been pushing narratives on TikTok about a variety of issues including gun control, racial inequality, and the Israel-Hamas war, according to research reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

Breitbart News previously reported that TikTok sent sensitive user data about Americans, including their opinions on gun control and abortion, to their Chinese communist overlords:

In a new filing, the DOJ notes that TikTok employees communicate internally with one another using a tool called Lark, and claimed that “significant amounts of restricted US user data (including but not limited to personally identifiable information)” was shared on this platform, according to a report by the Register.

“This resulted in certain sensitive U.S. person data being contained in Lark channels and, therefore, stored on Chinese servers and accessible to ByteDance employees located in China,” the DOJ continues in its filing.

The Chinese propaganda push reportedly targets both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Beijing-backed initiative also previously targeted President Joe Biden before he was ousted from his reelection campaign.

Researchers attribute the initiative to the prolific Chinese disinformation group, Spamouflage, Associated Press reported. The report was published Tuesday by the research firm Graphika.

“One of the world’s largest covert online influence operations, an operation run by Chinese state-linked actors, has become more aggressive in its efforts to infiltrate and sway U.S. political conversations ahead of the election,” Graphika chief intelligence officer Jack Stubbs said.

Adopting fake identities to pose as U.S. voters, the Chinese trolls mimic Americans engaging in political debate online in an attempt to control or sway the narrative.

One TikTok account alleged to be part of the Spamouflage initiative — known as “Harlan Report” — raked in 1.5 million views on a single post. When asked for comment, the individual behind the TikTok account refused to disclose their identity.

“In your world, I am a clown. Sorry, You cannot know my identity, nobody ensure my safety,” the TikTok user told the Wall Street Journal.

Following an inquiry from the news paper, TikTok banned Harlan Report from the platform. Breitbart News reviewed Harlan Report’s X account, which boasted 11,000 followers, finding that the account has since been suspended from Elon Musk’s social media platform as well.

Harlan Report reportedly posed as a 31-year-old conservative on X, with the hashtags #Patriotsunited, #MAGA, and Trump2024 in its bio.

Another investigation by the Wall Street Journal found TikTok promoting “thousands of videos with political lies and hyperbole to its users,” the newspaper added.